The Angel
by hashtagxheel
Summary: Jay Reso is a high school senior with everything to live for who is killed in a car accident. In the days and weeks after his death, those in his close-knit clique escape brushes with death. Is it simply a coincidence, or is Jay closer than they think?


_**Hi everyone! I'm back. I've been gone from Fanfiction for a long time, for a variety of reasons. Anyway, this is probably the most personal story I've ever written. It's inspired by something that actually happened to me. In July 2010, a friend of mine was killed in a car accident. It had a pretty huge effect on my school, especially my close circle of friends because he was on the football team and I'm a cheerleader. On top of that, the football team recently won CIF, so the guys have been talking about him a lot lately. Needless to say, he's been on my mind recently. I'm thinking that writing this will be somewhat therapeutic.  
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><p><em>Friday night—8:03 P.M. <em>

Jay Reso plopped onto the couch in the living room and turned the TV on. "You don't need me there, Kells," he insisted, "just go without me and have a good time."

His slightly younger sister, Kelly, frowned. "But Jay," she whined, sitting on the arm of the couch beside him, "you promised you would go! How do you think Randy's gonna react when he finds out you're not going?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "Randy will be fine. He'll be so busy throwing the party that he won't even notice I'm not there."

"Does Ria know you're not going?" Kelly asked.

"No," Jay replied matter-of-factly.

Kelly narrowed her eyes. "Oh, I see how it is. So you want Ria, Adam, and I to just go without you? You expect your sister, girlfriend, and best friend to show up to your friend's party without you? A party you said you would go to, by the way."

Jay sighed; his sister had a point. "I understand, Kells. But I'm just not in the partying mood for some reason."

Kelly stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "William Jason Reso, I am _not_ taking no for an answer! You _will_ get your ass off that couch and get dressed, you _will_ be ready to go by nine, and you _will_ go to Randy's party and have fun. Understand?"

Jay laughed. He and his sister rarely got into it, so he didn't see Kelly worked up very often. But Kelly seemed pretty serious, so he gave in.

"Alright, alright," Jay relented, leaving his place on the couch. Kelly smiled a contented smile as her brother passed her on his way upstairs.

"Remember," she called after him, "be ready to go by nine!"

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><p><em>Friday night—9:01 P.M. <em>

Just as Kelly had demanded, Jay was dressed and ready to go by eight o'clock. Before he left his room, the captain of Mt. Cobalt High's hockey team inspected his appearance one last time. His sister had allotted him nearly an hour to get ready, but Jay had spent most of that time just lounging around and hadn't actually taken an active role in getting dressed until about ten minutes ago. Jay looked in the mirror at his black v-neck, dark jeans, black Converse, and leather jacket. He ran one last hand over his short blonde hair, straightened the crucifix around his neck, and headed for the door.

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><p><em>Friday night—9:18 P.M.<em>

It was still fairly early when Jay and Kelly arrived at the party. Jay was happy about this; he didn't want to have to park all the way down the block from Randy's house.

When Jay and Kelly walked in the door, "We Found Love" was playing at what had to be the loudest possible volume. The music emanated from the corner of the family room, where Jeff Hardy had set up his turntables and speakers to DJ for the night. At this point during the party, most of the partygoers were milling around, talking and drinking. Soon enough, the dance floor would be packed and it would be a night that people would swear not to talk about and probably not remember…all of Randy's parties ended that way.

The man of the evening, Randy Orton, was the first to greet Jay and Kelly. The brown-haired basketball player smiled broadly. "You guys are here! Thanks for coming."

Kelly beamed. "No problem. You knew we wouldn't miss this. Who else is here?"

Randy looked around the bottom floor of his house at other guests. He used his cup of Red Bull and Smirnoff to gesture to some of their other friends, starting with two pretty girls in the kitchen. One was short with long, jet black hair; the other was a little taller and had stunning green eyes and thick, caramel colored hair.

"Mel and Eve have been here a while," Randy began, gesturing to his girlfriend Melina Perez and her cousin, Eve Torres, "they helped Jeff, Cody, Ted, and I set up."

Jay smiled. "So if Eve's already here, that means Adam won't be here for another half an hour." Eve was his best friend Adam Copeland's object of affection. He wanted to look his best for her, and was probably over-analyzing every aspect of his appearance.

Randy laughed. "Of course," he said, looking around again. He gestured to a couple sitting together on the couch in the family room. The guy was more muscular, with closely-cropped brown hair and blue eyes; the girl had long, auburn hair and a bright smile. "John and Micks are, as usual, attached at the hip. We'll need to liquor them up so they'll actually interact with the rest of us and stop getting lost in each other's eyes."

Jay nodded. John Cena and Mickie James were the favorite to win the title of the Senior class' cutest couple. The football captain and his sassy spitfire of a sweetheart had been dating since junior high.

Kelly opened her mouth to say something, but her vibrating phone cut her off. She pulled it out of her purse and opened it, her face brightening up. "I'll see you guys later."

Jay raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Is that Alex?"

Kelly smiled. Without saying anything, she turned on her heel and headed back outside toward where most of the cars were parked.

Randy noted the disdain in Jay's voice. "What do you have against Riley, anyway?"

"Can anyone in that family be trusted?" Jay asked.

"I see your point," Randy replied, "and for the record, the answer is no."

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><p><em>Friday night—9:59 P.M.<em>

Jay was on his into the family room when he felt a pair of hands cover his eyes.

"Guess who," a female voice said playfully.

Jay smiled. He knew exactly who the voice belonged to. "It's about time you got here, Ria," he teased.

His girlfriend, Maria Kanellis, removed her hands from Jay's eyes and moved to kiss her boyfriend. The gorgeous redhead rolled her green eyes. "Sorry. Adam and I were on the way over here when Phil called at the last minute wanting a ride. You know Adam wouldn't say no."

Jay pursed his lips. "You rode over here with Phil?"

"Did you miss the part about Adam being there, too?" Maria asked.

"You know how I feel about him, Ria," Jay insisted. Phil Brooks was Maria's ex-boyfriend who made it pretty obvious that he wasn't over her. What he made more obvious was the fact that he didn't care that Jay was in Maria's life now. Complicating things further was Adam's pre-existing friendship with Phil.

By this time, Adam Copeland made his way over to the couple. He shook hands with Jay. "I see it didn't take your lady long to find you," he said.

Maria playfully stuck her tongue out at Adam and intertwined her hands with Jay's. "Don't you have anyone else to mess with, like Eve?"

Jay laughed. "You know she's here, don't you? Just look for Mel and you'll find her—you know they don't leave each other's sides."

Adam smiled at his best friend. "Thanks for the suggestion, Mr. Reso. Now, if you two lovebirds will excuse me, I'm on my way to find Miss Torres." With a sparkle in his blue eyes, Adam departed in search of his crush.

Maria giggled. "And _that_'s the guy you call your best friend?"

"For the last twelve years," Jay replied. He wrapped his arms around Maria's waist just as "Until the End of Time" began to play. He smiled at his girlfriend. "Wanna dance?"

Maria took Jay's hand. "Of course."

The couple made their way to the dance floor and joined the other pairs of partygoers. In front of them, the DJ, Jeff Hardy, had stepped out from behind the turntables momentarily to enjoy a slow dance with his girlfriend, Candice Beckman. Behind Jay and Maria were Randy and Melina, locked in a tight embrace as they danced. Next to them were John and Mickie. Off to their right was Adam, who shot Jay a look of satisfaction over Eve's shoulder. And, to Jay's chagrin, Kelly was also dancing…with Alex Riley.

Maria followed Jay's gaze to Kelly and Alex. "Leave them alone," she scolded, "I understand that you want to protect Kelly, but I'm sure Alex isn't as bad as you think. She'll be fine."

"So you're saying I'll have to resist the urge to put hands on Riley?" Jay asked.

Maria nodded. "Exactly."

Jay sighed. "Then it's gonna be a long night."

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><p><strong><em>AN: There's the first chapter. Like the title says, it's part one of two...maybe three if I keep getting too detailed:p I hope you all enjoyed it(: Review please !_**


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